HBU 2025 Summer Teacher Training and Exchange Program in Singapore Successfully Concludes

To deepen our study of and draw on Singapore’s advanced educational concepts and practices and to enhance the internationalization of our faculty, from August 17 to August 26 the school selected 20 key teachers to go to Singapore to carry out the “First‑Class Discipline Building and Interdisciplinary Talent Training” program.

This training focused on the established theme and was organized into three major modules: the Singapore education system and policies; building first‑class teaching teams and cultivating interdisciplinary talent; and interdisciplinary education driven by big data, together with teaching‑research team development and capacity enhancement. The program was delivered through lectures, site visits, and exchanges. Through study, participants gained a relatively comprehensive and in‑depth understanding of Singapore’s education policies, systems, and philosophies, as well as of Singaporean universities’ approaches to talent cultivation, teacher training and team building, industry‑university‑research collaboration, recruitment and cultivation of innovative talent, the use of artificial intelligence to empower interdisciplinary education, and moral education.

The training included seven themed lectures: “Education System and Talent Cultivation Strategies under Singapore’s Elite System”; “Singapore’s Teacher Training Model and Teacher Professional Development”; “Building World‑Class Universities and Attracting and Cultivating Innovative Talent — Experiences from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore”; “Cutting‑Edge Cases of Artificial Intelligence in Interdisciplinary Education”; “Challenge‑Based Pedagogy for Cultivating Interdisciplinary Innovative Thinking and Critical Thinking”; “Singaporean University Experiences in Building First‑Class Program Clusters and Cultivating Interdisciplinary Talent”; and “Building Efficient Teams — Enhancing the Effectiveness of University Teaching‑Research Teams.” These seven lectures were theme‑focused, with invited experts sharing the advanced concepts and practices of their institutions, including the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore University of Technology and Design, and organizations such as the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore and Singapore Business Federation China Office.

The program arranged six on‑site visits, which included the National University of Singapore; the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore; A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research); Nanyang Technological University‑incubated enterprises; Singapore’s integrated smart industry‑university‑research parks; and moral education bases in Singaporean universities. Some thematic lectures were held at the host institutions of the visiting experts, such as Nanyang Technological University and Singapore University of Technology and Design. These site visits gave participants a more direct sense and experience of concepts, approaches, and practices in building world‑class universities, cultivating interdisciplinary talent, and promoting industry‑university‑research collaboration in Singapore.

During the training, participants linked the content to their own work and held in‑depth discussions and exchanges with the experts on questions such as “Which courses and programs should be set up for interdisciplinary talent cultivation?” “How should teacher performance be evaluated categorically, and what are the indicators for assessing teachers’ teaching and research achievements?” “What policy supports exist to encourage student innovation and entrepreneurship?” “How can classroom teaching effectiveness be improved?” “How should graduate surveys be conducted and how should survey results be used?” and “How should university teacher training be organized?” Through these exchanges, participants learned additional practical experience that can serve as reference for improving their own work.

Through this study and exchange, participating teachers gained a more comprehensive and in‑depth understanding of Singaporean education, especially higher education, including its philosophies, models, characteristics, and strengths, and successfully achieved the established objectives. Participants deeply felt that while Singapore’s experience is worth learning from, it should not be simply copied; rather, it should be combined with China’s national conditions and the specific realities of our universities, with a firm focus on talent strategy, interdisciplinary cultivation, internationalization of education, and integration of industry‑university‑research, to steadily and orderly advance systematic reform centered on university functions. Every member of the team will actively participate in the school’s high‑quality development in their future work and contribute wisdom and effort to the early realization of a “distinctive, internationally recognized” first‑class university.